Research by the inventor has established that computers are not used properly or to full potential. Computers are widely accepted as effective means of problem solving, however most users lack confidence in new applications and tend to be proficient only in repeated and familiar tasks, indicating functional fixedness—the inability to perceive better ways of performing tasks and realising that objects have functions other than familiar ones. In a nutshell computers, including keyboards, are not used properly because of inadequate user awareness and instruction. Very few users are aware of the finger-key zones necessary for effective use of keyboards and computers. Without this knowledge progress is slow and error-prone. Continued misuse causes difficult-to-reverse and dysfunctional development. For the individual this means slow-paced skill acquisition which retards proficiency, speed and accuracy, and user confidence.
The layout of keys on a modern computer keyboard is based on a “basic” typewriter keyboard configuration. That configuration has been accepted as a standard over many decades and defines the positions of keys on the keyboard. Generally, the “basic” typewriter keyboard has about fifty keys and does not include numeric, control, option, mode, start-up, cursor and function keys found on the modern “extended” or “101-plus” keyboard. The most common legends applied to the keys for identification purposes are the “QWERTY” and “Dvorak” legends, however there are many optional legends which may be utilised depending upon a user's specific requirements (eg. Japanese, Arabic, Swedish). The present invention is universally applicable to the “basic” or the “extended” keyboards and the various legends which apply to key identification.
The most widely-accepted method for efficient data input is the “touch-type” technique. To “touch-type” is to use the appropriate keying fingers without looking at the keyboard. However, the inventor's research has established that in excess of 99.95% of keyboard users do, and must, look at the modern “extended” or “101-plus” keyboard—visual consultation has become essential to keyboard users, regardless of an individual's proficiency level. That is because the modern keyboard has a far greater number and variety of keys and a larger, denser display area. Whilst the “basic” keyboard has almost fifty keys and can effect about eighty functions, the modern “extended” keyboard has in excess of one-hundred keys and can effect, potentially, thousands of distinct functions.
Traditional methods of teaching the “touch-type” technique limit the use and proficiency of the modem extended keyboard and its potentials because those methods only teach how to “touchtype” within the “basic” keyboard configuration where visual consultation is at a minimum. With the development of modern keyboards, and other data-entry devices, visual search has become essential to proficient use. Visual consultation of both keyboard and display monitor also play a vital role in the formative stages of learning to type (Cooper, 1983; Barrett & Krueger, 1994). The present invention acknowledges that the keyboard is a stimulus to users and that visual consultation is essential for developing effective usage.
In the “touch-type” technique the user places the fingers in the so-called “home” position in which each finger, from left to right, is placed on the home keys reading “ASDFJKL;” on a “QWERTY” legend keyboard or “AOEUHTNS” on a “Dvorak” legend keyboard. The thumbs are held over the space bar. Home keys are often identified through tactile guides attached to the keys. Each finger operates only those keys within the column defined by the home position, or in the case of the index fingers, also the adjacent columns containing keys on the home row reading G for the left hand and H for the right hand (“QWERTY” legend). “Finger-key zones” are thereby established, corresponding to the “home” position on the keyboard. The left and right “halves” of the keyboard should be used by the respective hands.
The benefits of the “touch-type” technique are that it develops proficiency, speed and accuracy through utilising the most efficient finger-key associations and the most economic kinesthetic-motor responses. The alternative “hunt and peck” method of typing produces difficult-to-reverse keying habits that limit speed and proficiency. It is therefore crucial to encourage the right motor responses (muscle memory) in the user at the earliest possible stage.
Various prior art systems have accordingly been developed in an attempt to teach users to “touch-type” correctly. However, those systems require the user to wear finger-guides in the form of upstanding labels worn on the back of the hands; or rings worn on each finger; or gloves. Finger guides and accessories indicate the relevant keys to be operated by each finger but have the disadvantage that they restrict movement of the typist's fingers or hands, block visual search and impair tactile feedback necessary for establishing correct motor skills (Cooper, 1983; Barrett & Krueger, 1994). Those systems are also restricted to basic keyboards and do not address extended keyboards used with computers.
Some of the prior art systems employ coloured decals or discs applied to the keys of a basic keyboard such that the keyboard is divided into a plurality of finger-key zones as described above. The keys within a particular zone are given a common colour, while the colour of each zone is different. Each finger is thereby associated with keys on the keyboard having a particular colour. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,501,849 to Olsen discloses finger-key zones from left to right having the colours: “red, blue, orange, green, yellow, pink, black, purple”. U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,739 to Ladner et al. discloses the colours: “dark pink, yellow, violet, green, orange, blue, grey, light pink”. WO94/01851 filed by Troudet discloses the colours: “pink, red, green, yellow and orange, yellow and orange, green, red, pink”.
The benefits of colour-coded keyboards accordingly appear to be known and accepted but there has been no appreciation or understanding of the significance that colour selection and patterning can play in the cognitive processes involved in teaming and developing proper keying practices. The present inventor on the other hand has recognized that colour selection and colour patterning can play a very significant role in enhancing the learning process and use habits.